Museum am Bergisel, Innsbruck Freestanding steel-and-glass structure – fascinating and self-assured

In conjunction with the general contractor, soll.wagner architekten, and the site supervising company, Baumgartner GmbH, Steindl Glas has helped construct the Museum am Bergisel. The new building possesses a volume of around 20,000 m³ with a floor space of 3,000 m². The museum will be turning this historic location into a place where both the past and culture will come together. The new building is to house the giant circular painting depicting the third Battle of Bergisel and to become the new home to the restored and modernized Tiroler Kaiserjägermuseum.

Difficult construction

Steindl Glas was able to meet the complex demands over a construction period of six months using its innovative SG-U façade system and glass fins to reinforce the windows. "The glass elements, each weighing around 650 kilograms and possessing formats of up to 4,560 x 2,100 mm, were fitted 60 metres above the ground. West Austria's largest construction crane, whose arm is 52 metres long, was used in poor weather and stormy conditions to carry out the difficult construction work," explained Heinz Eisenbach, Managing Director of Steindl Glas.

Triple-glazed insulating laminate glass was used for the 1,000 m² façade. Other types of glass, including Climaplus WS Ug 0.7W/m²K, ESG Ipasol 61/33 10 mm, ESG Sicuro White Glass 6 mm and the laminate Sicluamit low-e 12 mm safety glass, were also used in the building.

Steindl Glas SG-U façade system with stiffening glass fins

The SG-U façade system uses glass that is made with special UV-resistant edge composites to provide protection against the heat and sun and that is applied at the factory to aluminium U-profiles under precisely controlled conditions with pre-compressed spacing bands and a special type of silicon. These glass elements must then be bolted to steel frames. But before that, brackets must be bolted to the substructure to transfer the weight of the glass components into the substructure.

The calculations for the structural analysis for all glass thicknesses was based on the specifications and the resulting snow, wind and suction loads. The structural adhesions (glass with adapter frames / edge compound on insulating glass) was calculated on the basis of glass' size and weight using recognized methods.

In contrast to conventional systems, the Steindl-SG façades do not have be executed to a specific size. The fact that frames may be adapted to the required width of adhesion means that this system is not subject to any maximum glass sizes – which is unique in the world of glass. The adapter frames' corner fastenings are glued and compressed with solid corner fasteners. These compact connections allow the loads to be transferred to the substructure.